Is the B word now less of a curse?
Managing IP is part of the Delinian Group, Delinian Limited, 4 Bouverie Street, London, EC4Y 8AX, Registered in England & Wales, Company number 00954730
Copyright © Delinian Limited and its affiliated companies 2024

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

Is the B word now less of a curse?

Last September one of the speakers at our first European Patent Reform Forum described the fear of bifurcation at the UPC the "British angst". One year on and it seems that there is rather less angst around

Part of the reason for that is that lawyers from outside Germany ­– which already operates a bifurcation system for patent litigation – are finding our how the rules are likely to operate in the new Unified Patent Court.

But it is also because judges themselves are beginning to clarify the kinds of patents and patent cases that are likely to be subject to bifurcation ­– and suggesting the volume may be lower than many IP lawyers feared.

judge-buttner.jpg

At our Forum in Munich in September 2013, for example, German judge Tilmann Buttner of the Regional Court of Düsseldorf  (pictured) explained to the audience which cases he might bifurcate if he were a UPC judge.

A year later at our Forum in Paris, Buttner said that over the past 12 months he had revised his thinking and was now less inclined to bifurcate.

“Last year I talked about some cases being “bifurcation cases” and others not. I would rather not bifurcate. [UPC] courts are in a good position to render good and reasonable decisions on revocation as well as infringement because they will have a technical judge.”

“My message is that we may not bifurcate. But even if we do, it’s not all bad. The courts are likely to hand down a conditional decision that is subject to the revocation decision.”

But there is also a sense that lawyers are becoming more adept at developing new strategies to deal with new patent litigation rules.

Speaking about the two-year-old US Patent Trial and Appeal Board, Charles Larsen of Ropes & Gray told the audience: “We Americans used to fear bifurcation. Now we’re doing it”.

You can read more about the popularity of the PTAB’s procedures for parties seeking to invalidate a patent in the latest issue of Managing IP.

more from across site and ros bottom lb

More from across our site

A 36-member team from Zhong Lun Law Firm, including six partners, will join the newly formed East IP Group
The Delhi High Court sided with Ericsson against Indian smartphone maker Lava, bringing the companies' nine-year dispute to a close
We provide a rundown of Managing IP’s news and analysis from the week, and review what’s been happening elsewhere in IP
Tennessee has passed the ELVIS Act, a law that fights against AI models that mimic the voice and likeness of music artists
Rob Stien, chief communications and public policy officer at InterDigital, says the EU has forgotten innovators while trying to solve an issue that doesn’t exist
As Australia’s Qantm IP leans towards being acquired by a private equity company, sources discuss what it could mean for IP firms
Law firms that are conscious of their role in society are more likely to win work, according to a survey of over 23,000 in-house professionals
Nghiem Xuan Bac Pham, managing partner of Vision & Associates, discusses opportunities created by the US-China rift as well as profitability issues facing IP practices
Douglas Leite and two of his colleagues were intrigued by Bhering Advogados’s mission to grow its patent litigation practice
Each week Managing IP speaks to a different IP practitioner about their life and career
Gift this article